MTA hot over broken air conditioner at Staten Island bus depot

Staten Island Advance/Hilton FloresIt took twice as long to repair a broken bus air conditioner at the Castleton Depot (above) as at the Flatbush Depot in Brooklyn. The MTA wants to know why.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Why does it take twice as long to repair a broken bus air conditioner at the Castleton Depot in West Brighton as it does at Brooklyn’s Flatbush Depot?

That’s what the MTA wants to find out, as an example of the inefficiencies the authority hopes to remedy as part of a plan to save $22 million this year by running a tighter ship.

In a plan announced yesterday, the MTA offered examples of unnecessary overtime and outdated work rules that contribute to its $560 million a year in overtime expenses, as revealed after a recent internal review.

According to the MTA, it costs $2 million more a year to make the same air conditioner repairs at Castleton as it does at Flatbush, because of “unnecessarily high overtime usage” at the Island depot.

But Angelo Tanzi, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 726, which represents the borough’s bus operators and mechanics, said the comparison was like “apples and oranges.”

Until recently, the borough’s bus fleet included a lot of old models, he said, and Staten Island buses cover far more ground than routes in the other boroughs, adding to wear and tear.

In addition, he said, not all of the depot’s mechanics are trained in air-conditioning repairs, and the ones who are sometimes pulled away to other jobs.

The better to boost efficiency, the MTA will take a closer look at shifts exceeding 16 hours to reduce double-time payments.

The MTA also has in its cross-hairs padded pensions, offering the example of a Bridges and Tunnels employee who frequently worked shifts of 16 or more hours during his last year on the job. He retired in 2007 and is now paid $73,000 per year in retirement, although his annual base pay was $53,000.

“Some overtime is needed to put out a reliable service and respond to emergencies, but much of it is unnecessary and can’t be justified,” said MTA Chief Operating Officer Charles Monheim. “MTA leadership is now committed to eliminating unnecessary overtime, and we expect new controls to save millions. We will do our part, but a real partnership with labor is the only way to make a real dent in unnecessary overtime.”